Tragedy at UVA

Three students were killed, two injured, and a community was left traumatized on November 13, following a shooting at the University of Virginia. The first message from the UVA Alert system notified the community of shots fired at Culbreth garage. It was followed seven minutes later by a report of a shooting on Culbreth Road. […]

‘The money is there’

In Virginia’s state prisons, just about everything costs money, from phone calls to soap to toilet paper. And because incarcerated people make less than 50 cents per hour, they often rely on their loved ones to help them cover prison’s prohibitive costs, putting many families into debt.  To alleviate the burden these fees put on […]

Sending love 

I work from a checklist. Two bags of coffee brew cups, sugar and creamer packets, and tea bags. One bag with a T-shirt and cotton crew socks. Two bags of granola bars, protein bars, and beef jerky. Two bags of cookie packets, hard candy, Twizzlers, and chewing gum. One bag with toothpaste, bar soap, hand […]

In brief

Activists accuse ACPD of biased policing  From July 1, 2021, to February 28, 2022, 20 percent of drivers stopped by the Albemarle County Police Department were Black, though Black residents make up only 9.6 percent of the county’s driving-age population, according to a 2022 traffic stop data report released by the Virginia Department of Criminal […]

Grit & guile, wit & wile

Colorful lights paint the stage as Peggy Lee’s “Big Spender” plays over the loudspeaker. Sparkling from head to toe like the overhead mirror ball, a woman wearing a sequin dress and dripping in costume jewelry swaggers and sways onstage, proudly brandishing a championship wrestling belt. “Zsa Zsa Gabortion,” a persona that’s equal parts Zsa Zsa […]

Giving back

Award-winning journalist and UVA alumna Katie Couric returned to her old stomping grounds for a conversation with President Jim Ryan at Alumni Hall on November 4. During the hour-long interview, the pair discussed Couric’s life and career, including her decades in TV news, cancer research advocacy, and her media company, Katie Couric Media. Ryan kicked […]

‘We’re still going’

Community members gathered at the Jefferson School African American Heritage Center on October 30 to hear the latest on the Swords Into Plowshares project, which seeks to melt down Charlottesville’s Robert E. Lee statue and repurpose its bronze into a new public artwork. In December, the Trevilian Station Battlefield Foundation and the Ratcliffe Foundation filed […]

In brief: Local publisher allegedly killed by girlfriend

Local publisher allegedly killed by girlfriend Shawna Marie Natalie Murphy was arrested on October 25 for the murder of her boyfriend, Matthew Sean Farrell, at his home. Shortly before 8:30am, Albemarle County police and fire rescue responded to a domestic disturbance report on the 2100 block of Stony Point Road. When officers arrived, they found […]

Face to face 

Republican Representative Bob Good and his 5th District Democratic challenger Josh Throneburg met for their first and only forum on October 26 at Hampden-Sydney College—after Good refused or ignored multiple debate requests from Throneburg. The two candidates shared their starkly different positions on a string of hot-button national and international issues, including student loan debt, […]

Promoting unity

The University Police Department and National Organization of Black Law Enforcement hosted a procedural justice workshop, titled Policing With Our Community, at UVA on October 26. The event provided insight into not only the ways in which police departments could improve their relationship with the communities they serve, but also foster trust and loyalty within […]